Why absolutely all societies of the world invented religion? ● Terrible discovery, unique in the history of Egyptian archeology ● More and more “cracks” appear in the hypothesis of the Earth as “balls of ice”

Why absolutely every society in the world invented religion?

Religion and belief in the supernatural are universal affairs. Absolutely all cultures and societies in this world came or, in fact, began with them. In this connection, a natural question arises: why are such beliefs so widespread? So where did they start?

A group of researchers from the USA, Australia and Germany tried to answer these questions in a study published in Nature Human Behavior. The simplest explanations, the ones we learned in school, said that the religious phenomenon arose to explain phenomena that prehistoric people could not understand. Yes, natural phenomena.

But such an explanation was empirical, without a very serious scientific basis. To do this, the researchers analyzed at least 114 societies, ranging from groups that still live at the tribal level to those that follow complex religions.

The conclusion was not far from what was previously claimed. That is, the religious phenomenon arose to explain the “mysteries” of nature, such as natural disasters, epidemics, etc. The problem is that in the case of primitives, very few of them also explain social phenomena. See Wars, thefts and other crimes, etc.

In fact, there really is a huge discrepancy between the interpretations of the two types of phenomena. If diseases or calamities find a religious explanation in almost 100% of cases, then war is explained in only 67% of them, and theft, as another example, appears in only 26%.

Researchers say that religions became more complex when they tried to define social phenomena through the lens of religion. For example, Christianity or Islam. As societies expanded, people began to trust each other less. Here again supernatural beliefs (such as witchcraft) came into play. Practically, the evolution of religious beliefs manifested itself as in the case of a living organism. It became more and more difficult, as the organism increased in size.

In the same vein, wars and crimes became more common in large societies compared to tribal ones. And then an explanation was needed. So, in the end, that’s what it comes down to explaining something you don’t understand in order to understand the world you live in.

Macrabic discovery, unique in the history of Egyptian archaeology

This is the first time in the history of archaeological research in Egypt that experts have come across a mass grave that contains only certain anatomical parts, namely palm trees, experts from the Institute of Archeology in Berlin report.

In a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, they report that they initially identified 12 human palms. Later, their number increased to 18. The find was made in the courtyard of the royal palace in northeastern Egypt, dated 1640-1530 BC. This period coincides with the conquest of Egypt by the Hyksos, a population of the Levant, still little known to historians. The idea is that the palm trees were brought to light from points right at the entrance to the palace, in front of the throne room. Hence the assumption that their role was to stand out, to create a strong influence on those who came before the leader.

Specialists who analyzed the human remains came to the conclusion that the hypothesis of their movement cannot be taken into account due to sediment disturbance. Thus, the only option left is amputation. It is known that the Egyptians, as well as the Hyksos, used such punishments, especially for prisoners of war. But so far the only examples are only ancient texts or engravings.

The analysis also showed that the remains belonged to persons between the ages of 14 and 21. And what is even more interesting, one of the palms belongs to a woman. This will open a new chapter in the history of research on this issue, namely the participation of women in military operations. However, researchers do not exclude the option of punishing some criminals.

More “cracks” appear in the Earth’s “ice ball” hypothesis.

About 800 million years ago, the Earth would have been completely covered in ice during a geologic period called the Cryogen. This would not be the first time in the history of our planet, this has already happened in early times. Rather, this is the last episode of its kind.

The paradox is that right in the cryogen we also have the dawn of complex life. In fact, it is then that the first complex organisms appear on Earth, namely jellyfish and sea sponges. The explanation given by the experts was that life spread in the depths thanks to underwater volcanoes, which released a significant amount of nutrients, sufficient to support a large evolutionary step.

Now it must be borne in mind that the geological study of such a remote period is extremely difficult. Continents tend to merge, change shape, and destroy evidence of ancient times. But from the data we have, it turns out that Terra was indeed completely covered in ice.

However, a study by geologists from China and Great Britain, published in the journal Nature Communication, casts doubt on this hypothesis. Earth may not have been a perfect ice ball, according to new data. On the contrary, there would be open surfaces that, in the best case, would not even be near the equator, where, theoretically, the temperatures should be somewhat higher.

The new interpretation appeared after a series of discoveries in China, which show that a certain complex organism appears in the rocks of that time, namely algae. And algae need photosynthesis. That is, light, which would be impossible in the case of a cap that would completely cover the entire Earth.

There is still no plausible explanation why such oases arose, especially far from the equator. Volcanoes would also be a possibility, but this aspect remains to be proven. However, it can be said for sure that the hypothesis of the Earth as an ice ball is beginning to get more and more “cracks”, and the very existence of oases that could enjoy sunlight would explain the appearance of complex life in such a harsh period from the climatic point of view.

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